Golden Wildcats force 18 turnovers

There's no marquee player for now, with Markel Crawford rehabbing his surgicallyrepaired knee. But third-ranked Melrose showed a well-developed identity Saturday night, pounding Central 77-53 to win the 42nd Martin Luther King Invitational on its home floor.

Earlier, East's girls made a statement by upsetting second-ranked Overton 54-52 for the champion's trophy.

The Golden Wildcats (4-0) turned up the defensive pressure early, broke to a 23-11 first-quarter lead and kept the gas on until mid-fourth quarter. They forced the rebuilding Warriors (3-2) into 18 turnovers and never let last year's Class AAA state runners-up get into any kind of rhythm. Melrose also showed an ability to look for the open man inside with several nice assists.

"ADU — Attitude, defense and unselfishness. That's our insurance policy," said Melrose coach Jermaine Johnson, adding, "This may be my second-best overall team here. We have depth at all positions, and a team that's willing to dig in on defense."

Donte Fitzpatrick, a 6-5 sophomore, had a breakout game, earning MVP honors with 16 points, 11 in the middle quarters, to go with four assists and three steals.

"We work hard on defense all the time, but we're also doing a good job of looking for each other," Fitzpatrick said.

Junior Jamerrio Jones got a putback off a missed free throw and a pair of three-point plays off turnovers to spark Melrose's first outburst. He finished with 16 points, while Rodney Webb had 13 and K.C. Goodwin 10.

Central was led by senior Jeremee Hemphill's 16 points, but first-year coach Ricardo Patton is still looking for depth.

"That's a strong, experienced team Melrose has. We go to the bench and have a couple of juniors who've never played basketball, and a lot of freshmen," Patton said. "But I'm very pleased with their effort this week."

In the girls game, East (4-0) began the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run, stretching the lead to 53-45 on a 3-pointer by freshman Nykie Grandberry.